I used to point & click so to speak, but I never really knew what I was looking at (unless it was jupiter or saturn, those are pretty obvious). I'm a little peeved that I was slack and missed mars when it was up just after sun down (2 years ago).
My problem now is that I want to start looking at these other objects like M45 I think it is, but ... other than finding something I know like a planet (which all seem to be hanging around the sun atm?)
What is the normal way (especially for a beginner) to find these objects? I don't have any printed star maps, just SN5 (which can print them but I am lazy, but I'll do it if I need to!). I don't even have a compass. Any tips and tricks?
it no harder than looking at the starchart and orientating it to the sky. you then find a familiar star close to where you are going and star hop from there to your destination
I'm currently cleaning up the office space (got rid of some old 17" monitors), cleaned up the old PC boxes, moved a table (tell ya, women like it when you make things neat and tidy!)... and now I have actually dragged the GSO out ... I have a decent view out the office window, so that is where I will start viewing again... in the comfort of my own home, computer with SN5 in the same room, a sliding window with no fly wire on it... I'm set!
At my parents house it was always convenient... our street ran N->S (357°).. Pretty handy. Where I am now though, the street runs roughly NW - SE... tricky trying to work stuff out, but it is handy when you have a familiar object to work from. 2 years ago I had Jupiter and Saturn close together... guess I will have to find something else now!
are you familiar with any of the constellations? orions pretty easy i the east at the mo.
try looking there, there si a bunch of stars there that from a kinda pot shape. if you find that look at the middle star in the handle of the pot...
Get hold of the Australian Sky and Telescope magazine from the newsagent and use the sky chart in it to find yourself around the night sky, fairly simple to use once you find the brighter stars on the map then hold it above your head and away you go.
It's like reading a map. For starters I can recommend Southern Sky Guide. It covers the whole southern sky, all the brighter objects, and some fainter ones too. And there is running commentary too, so it's not just dry charts. Bargain at $25. Bintel and other astro shops.
I agree with Ving. I've found myself in a similar position as you. A good thing to do is get your hands on a star wheel. You can orient it to match the time and date of your observing session. Find the brightest star on the map and it should be pretty simple to find it in the sky, just look for the brightest star! You can identify that one and then begin 'star hopping' from there. Just look for close stars around it in the sky and then match them up on the map. Before you know it, you'll be able to look up at the sky and say "Oh, look, there's Orion", or something like that.
I love the skychart that comes in each edition of 'Australian Sky & Telescope' because it shows that some of those shinning dots in the sky aren't just stars, but nebulas, clusters, magellanic clouds and galaxies. Quite awe inspiring when you think of it. Really puts your significance in the universe into perspective!
Right from the start I used a computer screen. I found being able to zoom and rotate the view on the screen to match exactly what I was seeing in the sky made things much easier for me than a black and white fixed size paper print.
I then slowly started to learn and reconise some of the constellations.
After 7 odd years (oh gez, that's a long time, getting old...) I still do it the same way now.
I'm with you there rogerg... I'm a computer geek so to speak, and I like SN5, even if it doesn't show me mcnaughties! I do recognise the big dipper as being part of orions belt, and of course the good old southern cross. I also know that I used to know what scorpio looked like too :/
I guess my best bet is that I am usually familiar with the planetry belt, but like I said earlier it appears that my fav planets are all playing with sun atm...
It just takes lots of practice.
I reckon your best off using a pair of binos to begin with.
Start with the allsky map out of one of the astro mags. Use Orion as your reference point. Move the map around so it looks the same on the map as it is in the sky. You'll notice the illusive M45 is to the left of Orion.
Once you've found all the objects on the Allsky maps, you can graduate to more detailed maps.
When i got my mount and couldn't get goto working, I had to do it manually like you are - holding a star chart over my head just drove me nuts.
What I ended up doing was using starry nights or stellarium to locate the object I wanted to go to, then draw an imaginary line to it in the sky using the common bright stars and follow it with the telrad attached to the scope.
I must admit, the most useful few bucks I ever spent was on a Planisphere. I always take it out with me every time I set up. Just turn it to the current date and time and have a look at what constellations are in a suitable spot. Last night I just looked at Puppis.
Even though I have a GoTo, I still use the Planisphere to check my alignment stars are the ones I think they are (usually I am correct). The biggest advantage of this little piece of technology is that the batteries never go flat, you can easily jump ahead to some time in the future and you never have to download updates!
For the first few months after getting the scope, I just went outside and tried identifying some stars and checked them with the GoTo.
I am a bit of a geek too BUT nothing beats getting out there with a Chandler planisphere and binocs and plotting your way around the sky. Then the more detailed atlases and charts printed from your PC make more sense.
